Regional recap: Class 3A Palatine Regional
By Mike Garofola
PALATINE -- It will be an all-North Suburban Conference final Saturday at Palatine High School after top-seed Stevenson beat a valiant club from Prospect 2-1, and Libertyville held off the host Pirates 2-1 at Chic Anderson Stadium.
In the opener the Patriots, 18-0-3 and ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, saw two taken off the line and Ethan Erickson stop a trio of point-blank attempts to help keep the 16th-seeded Knights (3-14-3) close until the very end of the hard-fought semifinal.
"(Stevenson) was a highly skilled and dangerous team that earned its top seed in this sectional," said senior and four-year varsity veteran Massimo Mho. “Although they had some great chances stopped by Ethan, and kept us under pressure at times, especially in the second half when they had the wind, I thought we played right up until the final whistle to make a real game of it.”
"That was a very good team we played tonight," added Knights manager Mike Andrews. “I am very proud of the effort and fight the guys gave, especially our seniors. They left everything they had out there in their final high school soccer game.”
Stevenson enjoyed most of the play in the contest, even when they played into a strong, cold wind in the first half. Despite the disadvantage, they took a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute on a Filip Janda strike.
"We were not as sharp as we should have been, especially at the start," offered Patriots senior Bhargav Devabhaktuni, who was outstanding on both sides of the ball for the league champions. “We had trouble adjusting to the conditions and their keeper made a couple of great saves. In the end, we did what we had to do in order to get the result we wanted.”
Prospect slowly come into the game just after the half hour, thanks in part to Michael Casaletto, Chris Morys, Adam Toporkiewicz and Mho. But it was Erickson who once again came to the rescue to keep the Knights close after his superb point-blank save on Bryant Rouse.
The Knights withstood plenty of one-way traffic from the Patriots attack up through, and just after the hour mark. They nearly got themselves level when Morys almost surprised keeper Aidan Morris with a left-footed blast. Carter Cremascoli had two chances inside the six that went unfinished.
"Stevenson had a lot of chances tonight," said Andrews. "But for the few that we created, and there were some very good ones, we could have easily got back even before they went up 2-0; for that matter put another one in as well."
Stevenson created a quick restart by Rohan Gopalam that allowed Daniel Sokolovsky to double the Patriots advantage seven minutes from time.
Prospect found a way to ramp up the anxiety for the top seed. After Cremascoli's header was saved by Morris, Mho unloaded a wicked left-footer at the back post to halve the Patriots lead in the 77th minute.
"This was a typical postseason soccer game,” Andrews said. “Our guys showed plenty of heart and fight in order to stay right in it until the very end.”
Libertyville 2, Palatine 1
No. 10-seed Libertyville (7-8-4) withstood a furious fight back from host Palatine in a scrappy and intense second game of the night to defeat the eighth-seeded Pirates and advance into the final against their longtime rival.
Sophomore Noah Finnema bagged the opener just before the intermission, and teammate Alex LaRoi steered in a free kick wonder goal from just inside the midline that sailed into the back of the net thanks to the strong wind.
"With so many seniors on our roster, we all knew this could be our last game ever," said senior Jake Berlowski, who in the last few minutes of regulation won several key 50/50 balls in the air and on the floor to help preserve the victory. “We fought hard, got through a rough stretch or two and came out of here with the win we needed in order to set up the game we want, and that's with Stevenson.”
The hosts were heartbroken.
"This was a tough loss to take," began dejected Pirates manager Aaron Morris. In his first year in charge, he led the Pirates to a 10-9-2 overall record, which was a 180-degree turn from a year ago when the club was a dismal 2-12-3.
"With a couple of players back from club, combined with the total commitment to each other, and hard work put in during the offseason, we did some very good things this year. Unfortunately tonight, it was a couple of mistakes that Libertyville made us pay for that were our downfall."
The opening stages of this contest saw the Pirates advance from the midfield, and on the wings to reach the final third, but they just were not sharp enough to solve WIldcats keeper Eli Johnson.
"That's the way it kind of went this season,” said Morris. “We created chances, played some terrific possession soccer. We just did not finish our chances to win games that we eventually lost or tied."
The Pirates took two off the line on the night, the first coming in the ninth minute. Later they watched keeper Augie Medina save a 25-yard free kick from LaRoi in the 20th minute.
Much of Palatine’s possession went through Andrew Kania, Zach Sondergaard and Dennis Valle. They created spaces for others to keep the pressure on the Wildcats as the first half approached the half hour.
When Libertyville lost some of its energy in the last few minutes of the first period, Finneman provided a spark when he popped in the opener from in-close for his sixth goal of the season.
"Our play fell off a little toward the end of the half, so Noah scoring just before the half was big for us," said Berlowski of the 36th-minute goal.
The home side thought it had equalized when Kaaran Toor appeared to finish a ball that spilled free from Johnson. But the officials ruled, after a long discussion, that the Wildcats keeper lost control from a hard foul.
LaRoi bagged his eighth of the season with his long-range free kick in the 47th minute. With the Wildcats backline of Henry Bownas, Jack Huber, C.J. Villani and LaRoi
working in unison, it appeared that Berlowski, and his mates were ready to claim a two-goal victory.
"We might have gotten a little too comfortable with our two-goal lead,” said Berlowski. “Palatine really came at us for the last 10-15 minutes. Especially after they scored, we had to be at our best."
The home side howled in disbelief when they expected the referee to point to the spot after it appeared Isaac Lara might have been hauled down in the box. However, two minutes later they came off their seats to celebrate when Sondergaard smashed his spot kick past Johnson after a PK was called in the 62nd minute.
"We got some lift after we pulled one back, but we didn't take advantage of the momentum we should have gathered from that goal," admitted Morris.
The visitors went to a 4-5-1 in the 72nd minute to add numbers behind the midline in an effort to limit the Pirates chances. A 25-yard free kick from Kania that went wide was all the Wildcats would concede on frame.
"I'm proud of the effort tonight, but it wasn't enough against a real solid team from Libertyville, who deserved the result," began Morris.
"It's always tough going out in the playoffs, but I've had a terrific first year. We'll look to build from our core, and have an even better year next season."
By Mike Garofola
PALATINE -- It will be an all-North Suburban Conference final Saturday at Palatine High School after top-seed Stevenson beat a valiant club from Prospect 2-1, and Libertyville held off the host Pirates 2-1 at Chic Anderson Stadium.
In the opener the Patriots, 18-0-3 and ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, saw two taken off the line and Ethan Erickson stop a trio of point-blank attempts to help keep the 16th-seeded Knights (3-14-3) close until the very end of the hard-fought semifinal.
"(Stevenson) was a highly skilled and dangerous team that earned its top seed in this sectional," said senior and four-year varsity veteran Massimo Mho. “Although they had some great chances stopped by Ethan, and kept us under pressure at times, especially in the second half when they had the wind, I thought we played right up until the final whistle to make a real game of it.”
"That was a very good team we played tonight," added Knights manager Mike Andrews. “I am very proud of the effort and fight the guys gave, especially our seniors. They left everything they had out there in their final high school soccer game.”
Stevenson enjoyed most of the play in the contest, even when they played into a strong, cold wind in the first half. Despite the disadvantage, they took a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute on a Filip Janda strike.
"We were not as sharp as we should have been, especially at the start," offered Patriots senior Bhargav Devabhaktuni, who was outstanding on both sides of the ball for the league champions. “We had trouble adjusting to the conditions and their keeper made a couple of great saves. In the end, we did what we had to do in order to get the result we wanted.”
Prospect slowly come into the game just after the half hour, thanks in part to Michael Casaletto, Chris Morys, Adam Toporkiewicz and Mho. But it was Erickson who once again came to the rescue to keep the Knights close after his superb point-blank save on Bryant Rouse.
The Knights withstood plenty of one-way traffic from the Patriots attack up through, and just after the hour mark. They nearly got themselves level when Morys almost surprised keeper Aidan Morris with a left-footed blast. Carter Cremascoli had two chances inside the six that went unfinished.
"Stevenson had a lot of chances tonight," said Andrews. "But for the few that we created, and there were some very good ones, we could have easily got back even before they went up 2-0; for that matter put another one in as well."
Stevenson created a quick restart by Rohan Gopalam that allowed Daniel Sokolovsky to double the Patriots advantage seven minutes from time.
Prospect found a way to ramp up the anxiety for the top seed. After Cremascoli's header was saved by Morris, Mho unloaded a wicked left-footer at the back post to halve the Patriots lead in the 77th minute.
"This was a typical postseason soccer game,” Andrews said. “Our guys showed plenty of heart and fight in order to stay right in it until the very end.”
Libertyville 2, Palatine 1
No. 10-seed Libertyville (7-8-4) withstood a furious fight back from host Palatine in a scrappy and intense second game of the night to defeat the eighth-seeded Pirates and advance into the final against their longtime rival.
Sophomore Noah Finnema bagged the opener just before the intermission, and teammate Alex LaRoi steered in a free kick wonder goal from just inside the midline that sailed into the back of the net thanks to the strong wind.
"With so many seniors on our roster, we all knew this could be our last game ever," said senior Jake Berlowski, who in the last few minutes of regulation won several key 50/50 balls in the air and on the floor to help preserve the victory. “We fought hard, got through a rough stretch or two and came out of here with the win we needed in order to set up the game we want, and that's with Stevenson.”
The hosts were heartbroken.
"This was a tough loss to take," began dejected Pirates manager Aaron Morris. In his first year in charge, he led the Pirates to a 10-9-2 overall record, which was a 180-degree turn from a year ago when the club was a dismal 2-12-3.
"With a couple of players back from club, combined with the total commitment to each other, and hard work put in during the offseason, we did some very good things this year. Unfortunately tonight, it was a couple of mistakes that Libertyville made us pay for that were our downfall."
The opening stages of this contest saw the Pirates advance from the midfield, and on the wings to reach the final third, but they just were not sharp enough to solve WIldcats keeper Eli Johnson.
"That's the way it kind of went this season,” said Morris. “We created chances, played some terrific possession soccer. We just did not finish our chances to win games that we eventually lost or tied."
The Pirates took two off the line on the night, the first coming in the ninth minute. Later they watched keeper Augie Medina save a 25-yard free kick from LaRoi in the 20th minute.
Much of Palatine’s possession went through Andrew Kania, Zach Sondergaard and Dennis Valle. They created spaces for others to keep the pressure on the Wildcats as the first half approached the half hour.
When Libertyville lost some of its energy in the last few minutes of the first period, Finneman provided a spark when he popped in the opener from in-close for his sixth goal of the season.
"Our play fell off a little toward the end of the half, so Noah scoring just before the half was big for us," said Berlowski of the 36th-minute goal.
The home side thought it had equalized when Kaaran Toor appeared to finish a ball that spilled free from Johnson. But the officials ruled, after a long discussion, that the Wildcats keeper lost control from a hard foul.
LaRoi bagged his eighth of the season with his long-range free kick in the 47th minute. With the Wildcats backline of Henry Bownas, Jack Huber, C.J. Villani and LaRoi
working in unison, it appeared that Berlowski, and his mates were ready to claim a two-goal victory.
"We might have gotten a little too comfortable with our two-goal lead,” said Berlowski. “Palatine really came at us for the last 10-15 minutes. Especially after they scored, we had to be at our best."
The home side howled in disbelief when they expected the referee to point to the spot after it appeared Isaac Lara might have been hauled down in the box. However, two minutes later they came off their seats to celebrate when Sondergaard smashed his spot kick past Johnson after a PK was called in the 62nd minute.
"We got some lift after we pulled one back, but we didn't take advantage of the momentum we should have gathered from that goal," admitted Morris.
The visitors went to a 4-5-1 in the 72nd minute to add numbers behind the midline in an effort to limit the Pirates chances. A 25-yard free kick from Kania that went wide was all the Wildcats would concede on frame.
"I'm proud of the effort tonight, but it wasn't enough against a real solid team from Libertyville, who deserved the result," began Morris.
"It's always tough going out in the playoffs, but I've had a terrific first year. We'll look to build from our core, and have an even better year next season."